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Lindsey Vonn

Born:

October 18, 1984

It was another stellar year for the superlative Lindsey Vonn who has been the dominant women’s skier for three years.

Biography

It was another stellar year for the superlative Lindsey Vonn who has been the dominant women’s skier for three years. In 2010 she proved herself to be one of the greatest skiers of all time after another brilliant season.

The daredevil American won her third straight overall World Cup in 2009/10, and also won the Olympic Downhill gold medal in Vancouver in February – the first American woman to do so – despite nearly missing the Winter Olympics because of injury.

Just days before the Downhill, Vonn revealed she had a shin injury which was giving her considerable pain. Due to unseasonably warm weather and poor snow conditions, many of the Alpine skiing events were moved back, giving Vonn additional time to recover. Being a true champion, she made the most of this opportunity and won the gold medal, beating US rival Julia Mancuso by 0.56 seconds.

In a glittering career, at the age of just 26, she has already recorded 33 World Cup wins in four disciplines - Downhill, Super G, Slalom and Super Combined. She has also won two World Championship gold medals.

She has become the most successful American women skier in World Cup history and the first American to win three successive World Cup titles.

Lindsey first got on skis at the age of just two, eventually moving into Erich Sailer's renowned development programme at Buck Hill, which also produced slalom racer Kristina Koznick. She commuted to Colorado to train for a couple of years before her family moved to Vail in the late 1990s to allow her to concentrate on her skiing.

This is third time straight year Lindsey Vonn has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award. In 2009 she was beaten to the Award by Yelena Isinbayeva and in 2010 by Serena Williams.